 WASHINGTON, DC (AFI Silver/ www.firststar.org/ www.oscars.org) - You don't have to be in Hollywood to experience the magic and excitement of the Oscars(R). When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences stages its 77th Academy Awards Presentation on Sunday, February 27, 2005, residents of the Washington area can officially join the red carpet festivities at their own Oscar Night America event. Held at the American Film Institute's Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, Maryland, this event will be one of just 45 Academy-sanctioned parties to be held across the nation that evening. The ABC Television Network - which broadcasts the annual Academy Awards Presentation - and the Academy are cooperating for the twelfth year with local charities nationwide to create official Oscar Night America viewing parties. Only one charity party in a given city may participate in Oscar Night America.
Proceeds from this Oscar Night America event will equally benefit the film programs of the AFI Silver Theatre and First Star, a Washington-based charity dedicated to improving life for America's abused and neglected children through system reform, education, research, public policy and public awareness. 2005 marks the fourth consecutive year that First Star has hosted such an event in Washington.
"We are delighted to join with First Star and extend the excitement of the Oscars to the AFI Silver Theatre this year," comments Murray Horwitz, Director, AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center. "Watching the telecast in a theater of this caliber brings us one step closer to the experience guests will have at the Kodak. Guests will feel like A-Listers. This is going to be a fun night." Guests at the AFI Silver Theatre will be treated to all the pageantry of an Oscar night celebration - including a red carpet arrival and cocktail reception with drinks and hors d'oeuvres served throughout the evening. The Oscar ceremony will be broadcast live in all three AFI Silver theatres, hosted by a special, to-be-announced guest MC. Silent auction items (some movie-themed) will benefit First Star and AFI Silver. Official Oscar Night America parties last year raised more than $2 million for local charities in 45 cities. The program has raised nearly $13 million for local charities around the United States since its inception over 12 years ago. All funds stay in the community in which they were raised; the Academy does not receive any portion.
The Academy provides official Oscar Night America parties with the same printed Academy Awards show programs as those handed out at the ceremonies in Los Angeles and permits the party organizers to use the image of the Academy's copyrighted Oscar statuette on invitations and other materials.
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